TOBACCO CEO SAYS HE `SMELLED A RAT'

Bennett LeBow bought Liggett and Myers, a tobacco company, in the
mid-1980s, and with it he took on the same "party line" as the rest of
the industry: That it remained unproven that nicotine was addictive,
or that it caused cancer, or that the industry marketed cigarettes to
youngsters.

Yesterday he testified in King County Superior Court that he didn't
know any better then. Over the years, the tobacco executive said, he
began to see that the industry's public line was a lie and
contradicted what it knew privately, that nicotine was a powerful
drug, and that the cigarettes that delivered it could cause cancer.

LeBow, CEO of the Brooke Group, a company that includes the Liggett
and Myers tobacco company, testified for state lawyers in Washington's
lawsuit against Big Tobacco. Washington's lawsuit accuses the tobacco
industry of conspiring to violate antitrust laws, consumer-protection
laws, manipulating nicotine levels in cigarettes, and hiding
information about how smoking affects health. The state is seeking
$2.2 billion for the cost of treating sick smokers, but that number
could double if the jury decides to fine the industry more.

LeBow said his gut feeling told him to doubt the party line in 1995
when another tobacco company offered to pay Liggett's legal fees from
lawsuits. "I really smelled a rat. Something was wrong," LeBow said.

LeBow testified that he met with several attorneys general and asked
them about their cases against the industry. He said he learned from
them, and from looking at their documents, that the industry had been
misleading the public.

"How can I get up and say . . . tobacco isn't addictive. I didn't
believe it," he said.

LeBow did not fight the cases. Rather, he said publicly that smoking
is addictive and causes cancer. "I was called every name in the book,"
by the industry, he said.

Last year Liggett Group reached a settlement with Washington and 20
other states. In the settlement, LeBow admitted nicotine is addictive,
that smoking makes people sick, and that Big Tobacco targets children
with their marketing. He also agreed to cooperate with states in their
lawsuits against the rest of the industry.

When a tobacco lawyer questioned LeBow, he reacted with the smug
grumpiness of a bulldog, sometimes refusing to answer questions
directly, swatting at the lawyer with a sarcastic jab or two, and more
than once was scolded by a court reporter for interrupting the
lawyer's questions and making it difficult to record the transcript.
But all that is why LeBow, lawyers said, is such a remarkable witness
for the lawyers suing the tobacco industry: LeBow is as vigorously
against the tobacco industry now as he once was for it.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry